


Tarlos and Buttercup

by SportyMari



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Buttercup is too cute not to include, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pure Cuteness, Tarlos is cute together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:21:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23048443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SportyMari/pseuds/SportyMari
Summary: Post 1x08((((“Shh Buttercup, quiet. There are other people here,” Carlos said softly, petting the fire dog.Carlos kept watching the firefighter for any movement before getting up to sit next to Buttercup. Buttercup nosed at his hand before laying on the bed on TK’s legs.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes (9-1-1 Lone Star)/TK Strand
Comments: 13
Kudos: 246





	Tarlos and Buttercup

**Author's Note:**

> Longer than I expected and the original plan went through the window as soon as I thought of Buttercup’s scene.

Carlos was helping his partner get a reunited couple into the back of the squad car when he heard it. _A gunshot from inside the house!_ Carlos looked at his partner and rushed into the house. He saw everyone crowding around someone on the floor. It wasn’t until he did a head count of the firefighters and paramedics, that he realized who was laying on the ground. He felt his heart drop and tears gather in his eyes. Then, he felt arms wrapping around him. When Carlos opened his eyes he saw it was Paul, who was hugging him.

“Finish up here and then meet us at the hospital,” Michelle said as she walked past while following the gurney with TK laying pale white. Paul released him from the hug and walked away. 

“Please be okay, Ty,” Carlos whispered to himself before getting to work at the crime scene. 

((((

Carlos rushed into the hospital and ran to where he could see everyone sitting close. Marjan and Mateo looked up from where they were huddle together playing some sort of game on the former’s phone. Marjan sent him a small smile that was probably supposed to make him feel lighter but instead it did nothing. Mateo immediately rushed to Carlos. 

“Carlos! I’m sorry dude. I know it’s hard for us but he’s like your boyfriend so it’s gotta he hurting a lot,” Mateo mumbled into Carlos’ uniform. He cracked a small smile (even if it was fake) and hugged the young firefighter. They may not know everything about Carlos and TK but the 126 did know that the duo were very close. The only ones who truly knew how much they cared about each other were Paul and Michelle. Paul saw it at t club and Michelle has had to hear Carlos gush about TK. 

“He’s your family,” Carlos said as a reply. Mateo nodded against him and squeezed tighter.

“Carlos, I don’t care if you have to lie to me. Just tell me he’s going to be okay,” Mateo said. It hit Carlos that Mateo is one of the caring ones out of the 126 team. 

“I don’t have to lie to you, Mateo. TK will be Fine. He’s a fire _fighter_! It has the word fighter in it! So he may be laying there but he’s helping his body heal. He’ll wake up and be back to our favorite jumping TK Strand,” Carlos smiled down at Mateo. He made the mistake of looking over at TK. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat but it wouldn’t go away. Carlos excused himself and walked to TK’s room. He saw Captain Strand sitting there and heard him talking to TK. Carlos must’ve made a sound because next thing he knows, Owen is turning to face him. 

“Officer Reyes,” Owen greeted him. He started to get up from the seat. Carlos wanted to tell him that that wasn’t necessary but the man was already talking again. “Would you like some time with him?”

Carlos couldn’t look at the older man. All he could see was TK laying there, tubes and wires everywhere. 

“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Carlos squeaked out. His voice cracked as he looked up at the fire captain. 

“Oh no he would want it. I know I would,” Captain Strand replied. He pat Carlos’ shoulder before walking to where his team were sitting. 

“Hey, my little Tiger. I don’t know if you can hear me but if you can then, please wake up.” Carlos didn’t know what else to say so he just sat there, one hand on TK’s bicep and the other carding through TK’s hair. He didn’t know how much time had passed but he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Paul standing behind him. Then, he saw Marjan and Mateo standing at the end of the bed. None of them said anything. It was only when a nurse came by to say that visiting hours were over, did any of them talk. 

“He’ll be okay, Carlos,” Mateo said to him, bringing him into a hug. Captain Strand and Michelle were standing talking to Judd and his wife. One look at Carlos and Captain Strand was trying to get the nurses to allow Carlos to stay the night. 

((((

It was a 4 days later and still nothing from TK. The nurses had already figured out that Carlos wouldn’t get up unless it was for work and even then he would come back after changing into regular clothes. 

“Ty, I like you more than you can possibly handle right now and I want to be sorry about it but I’m not. God, I can’t believe I wasn’t there the take the bullet for you. I wish I had been there to stand between you and that bullet. You should never have to take a bullet. That’s part of my job not yours. Please wake up, baby boy,” 

A bark came from the other side of the bed. Carlos looked over and chuckled. Buttercup had a paw on TK’s leg and was raising one in the air. Carlos grabbed the paw and smiled at the Bernese Mountain dog. A couple days ago, Owen smuggled the dog in and when the doctors saw the dog, Carlos had to pretend that TK needed the dog for anxiety. They let it slide and so Buttercup had been visiting TK with everyone since. Somewhere along the way, Carlos and Buttercup bonded and so the officer was the one bringing the dog home. They would sleep on the couch with one of TK’s shirts as their pillows. 

“You’re already here? Your shift was supposed to be over in 2 hours,” Grace’s voice brought Carlos back to the present. 

“My captain decided she was annoyed of me constantly looking at the clock so she sent me home.”

“Except with your boyfriend here, there is no point in going home,” Grace guessed. Carlos nodded and kept caressing TK’s hair. 

“I just want him to wake up. I want to take him out on dates and cook for him. I want to wake up and go to sleep with him by my side. I want us to co-parent Buttercup. I want to get into stupid arguments and make it up to him with flowers. Grace, I want a life with him but I can’t because he’s laying in a coma and still recovering from a bad breakup.” Carlos had tears in his eyes and Grace put a hand on his shoulder. Buttercup suddenly whined and pawed at TK’s hand closest to him. 

“Shh Buttercup, quiet. There are other people here,” Carlos said softly, petting the fire dog. Underneath Carlos’s arm, there was some movement. Carlos gasped and looked up at the man he loves. “Ty? You awake?” But no one answered him. Carlos sighed and sat back in the chair. Grace had left to go to Judd and the others, who had all just gotten to the hospital. 

Carlos kept watching the firefighter for any movement before getting up to sit next to Buttercup. Buttercup nosed at his hand before laying on the bed on TK’s legs.

((((

What felt like hours but was actually just a few minutes, TK woke up. He groaned when he was met with bright lights. When he opened his eyes again, the first thing he noticed was warmth in his hand. Then a heaviness on his legs. TK looked down and saw a big lump of dog on his leg. 

“Why is there a dog on me?” The response was immediate. Buttercup looked up and wagged his tail while Carlos jumped out of his seat. If TK wasn’t feeling like any movement would cause pain, he’s laugh at them. 

“Tyler, you’re awake!” 

“Yeah, unless I suddenly turned into a ghost,” TK tried to smirk at the cop.

“No, definitely not. Hold on, Buttercup go get a doctor and the others,” Carlos put the Bernese Mountain dog on the ground. He ran out of the room. The two humans could beat his barking as he went to find the doctor. 

“They let you bring him in here?”

“Well…we had to say he was your anxiety dog. I have a feeling they think he’s more of my anxiety. Mateo told me that Buttercup has known that something was wrong with you and I didn’t believe him until that foggy called me down yesterday. Nurses were watching us like they wanted to do something and then Buttercup came and sat on my lap.”

“Yeah he’s a magical dog. He has the same cancer as my dad so they were treating him so my dad could get treatment as well.”

“Wait, that angel of a dog has lung cancer?”

“You didn’t know?”

“No one told me. Oh I should mention, he’s been staying at my place since you were admitted.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah your dad couldn’t stand seeing a depressed dog. He wouldn’t eat or drink anything. If he did, it wasn’t much.”

“Aww poor baby. You’ve basically adopted a dog baby?”

“ _We_ have adopted a dog. He stole your shirts and would’ve let me take them to your dad’s place.”

“Yeah I guess we did,” TK sighed and looked over at the door. 

“Is that okay? I don’t want to force you to co-parent Buttercup,” Carlos looked at TK, nervously. 

“It’s fine Carlos. I want to co-parent my precious puppy with you.”

“Great!”

“Are we interrupting anything?” Mateo, timidly, asked from the door. Carlos and TK shook their heads and that was all it took before everyone was packing into the room. The nurses tried to wake around them but left again when it became clear they couldn’t. 

((((

A week later, TK was ready to go home and Carlos was basically thrown all responsibility. The duo had looked at each other and blushed. 

So a few hours later, they found themselves on Carlos’ couch watching some movie that was showing. Buttercup was on the floor enjoying a T-bone while occasionally making sure TK was still laying in Carlos’s lap. 

“Being in a coma made me realize that I don’t want to wait. I could’ve died without telling you that I like you. I would’ve have been able to see what life would be like being your boyfriend. So, Carlos I’ll you be my boyfriend?”

“Of course!”

“We’ll have to take it slow though.”

“Day by day?”

“Yeah that sounds okay.”

“Good. I can work with that.”

“I mean, we’ll have to take it slower than we are now.”

“Huh?” Carlos looked down at TK, who was smiling up at him. 

“We’ve already adopted a kid together,” TK joked, pointing at the big fluffy dog on the floor. 

“Haha that’s true,” Carlos reached out to ruffle Buttercup’s fur. TK waited for Buttercup to growl at Carlos but instead he licked his hand. 

“Our kid is playing favoritism! That’s not fair!” TK whined and hid his head in Carlos’s lap. 

“Aww! Am I your favorite, boy? Huh? Am I your favorite,” Carlos asked, in a baby voice. He yelled when he felt TK bite his thigh. “Mierda! Your teeth do hurt, querido!”

“Deal with it, asshole!”

“Tyler Kennedy Strand! No bad words in front of our child! He’ll start saying them!”

“He’s a dog!”

“Now you’ve offended him!”

“Oh he’ll get over it!” 

“You are a terrible father!”

“I’m not the one babying him!”

Unknownst to the couple, Buttercup had gotten up and was bending to knock over TK’s water cup. As soon as his “parents” had felt the cold water hit their laps, they looked over to Buttercup with wide mouths. One second they were sitting and the next Carlos is chasing the fire dog around the house while trying not to break anything. TK was still laying on the Couch, laughing at them. He felt happy in that moment. Not just because he was watching his boyfriend try to catch their dog but because he wouldn’t missed this if he had stayed in the coma and not returned to his family. He was finally happy again and his favorite people. /p>

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: marisnow01
> 
> Comments and kudos appreciated


End file.
